


welcome to the first day of the rest of your life

by Leyenn



Category: Stargate - All Media Types, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, Coming Out As A Threesome, Crying, DADT Repeal, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gambling, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied homophobia, Kissing, Love, Marriage Proposal, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Polyandry, Repressed feels, Secret Relationship, Threesome, Threesome – F/M/M, finally finished after a stupid number of years, many many many declarations of love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26584879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leyenn/pseuds/Leyenn
Summary: Tuesday, September 20, 2011.Nine years later, have nine different ways it went down.
Relationships: Samantha "Sam" Carter/Daniel Jackson/Jack O'Neill
Comments: 14
Kudos: 38





	welcome to the first day of the rest of your life

**Author's Note:**

> For timeline reference, 2011 is approximately at the end of _Destiny_ season two. Jack would be Head of Homeworld Security in Washington, Sam is in command of the _Hammond_ , and Daniel is still on SG-1.

**1.**

On the day of the repeal, Jack has spent twelve years, three months and nineteen days not telling that he's in love with Daniel, give or take an hour or two. Not a lifetime: not even close. But long enough.

He wakes up sandwiched between them, sunlight streaming through the window, in his bed in Washington with Daniel's hand bare nanometers from his cock. He takes it as a sign: good or bad, who knows. But when Daniel shifts like he's waking up and his breathing deepens, Jack whispers, "hand job for luck?"

Sam laughs, the sound muffled in his hair. Daniel chuckles against the nape of his neck and slides his hand down. 

He makes it slow and languid, almost gentle; they don't move at all, curled together where they've slept, except for Daniel's hand stroking Jack's cock until he's aching with it. When the alarm goes off he's about as desperate to come as he's ever been and wishing he could just stay here like this forever.

Sam manages to angle an arm back and hit the snooze, then curls back into her spot against him and adds her hand to Daniel's. Their fingers lace together around him; two more long, slow strokes and he's gone, coming messily over their hands and his belly and Sam's thighs.

And then he starts to cry.

As if it's nothing unusual at all, Daniel spoons up closer behind him: strong arms going tight around his waist and his chest, kissing his shoulder and neck and anywhere within reach, murmuring soft nonsensesounds between each touch. Sam just cradles his head under her chin with her clean hand, running her fingers through his hair, adding her own quiet _shhh, shhh_ to the chorus.

He can't remember the last time he really cried. When Daniel ascended, maybe, but even that wasn't like this. All he knows is he couldn't put words to _why_ , now, even if he tried. It just feels like there's too much inside him - too much love and fear and pain and relief, too many years of longing and hiding and fighting. Too much tangled up around who he is and who he's supposed to be and who he's allowed to be; all the pieces of himself he's given to his job and his country and his world, for decades, and all the pieces it's taken as the price for serving and saving it. 

He's lost so much, so many people, so many chances to something so _stupid_ , and it's over. It doesn't seem real that it's over.

"I love you," Daniel's murmuring, soft and soothing against his neck. "I love you, shh, I know, shh, it's okay now, I love you, I love you."

It was never supposed to matter to him, after forty years of just living with it. He would have been pleased the damn thing was struck from the record, of course. He would have been beyond relieved to stop seeing that familiar fear in younger and younger faces, to stop watching spotless careers burned to the ground over and over. But it wasn't going to make a difference to _him._

It wasn't going to change anything, before Daniel. Now it feels like it changes everything in his world.

He sobs, quietly, just once, and Sam presses her lips to his forehead. She's wiped her other hand on something, takes his and holds it tight. "It's okay," she whispers. "It's okay, you made it. We made it," and Daniel's hand joins in, one of theirs on each side of his, strong and solid as if they're never letting go.

"We made it," he says, a perfect echo of Sam. And then, fiercer than Jack's ever heard him; "I love you, General Jack O'Neill, and today I'm going to tell _everyone_."

Jack's heart bursts, he actually feels it. He hasn't felt anything like this since the first time he flew, since Charlie was born, since he stepped through the gate for the first time.

"Tomorrow," he says, choked but determined. "Today, no one gets out of this bed."

Sam laughs, a playful, "Yes, sir," and he doesn't have to see Daniel's answering smile to hear it.

"Deal."

  


* * *

  


**2.**

****On the day of the repeal, Jack is in Washington in all-day meetings and Daniel is spending just another day in the main science lab, examining test results on the latest artifacts brought home by SG-19. There's a possible application in medical research if they can just decipher what's on the tablets they found, or make the strange stone box do something other than sit there. It's either an incredibly advanced storage module, a medical scanner of some kind, or a Rubik's cube – he's got equal bets on each.

He's just handing the second set of test results over to Bill when the lab door slides open and Sam walks in. For the briefest moment he's confused – she's not due to be at the SGC today, he's not expecting to see her until the weekend, but she doesn't look alarmed and she's in her usual uniform –

She walks straight up to him without even looking anywhere else in the room, takes his face in her palm and kisses him. Not a quick kiss hello, or a friendly brush of lips - a whole body kiss, all of her pressed up against him from head to toe, open-mouthed and deep and passionate, as if they've just survived another end of the world and she can't wait one more second. 

His brain shorts out, his hands find her waist and pull her tighter against him, and his mouth kisses her back before he's even aware of what he's doing. It takes a good ten seconds at least for him to process that she's actually here; not only that but he's actually kissing her, in the science lab, in the SGC, in full view of Bill and Carolyn and whoever else happens to be in the observation room right now.

He pulls his head back and looks into her eyes, but no – she doesn't look like she's possessed by an alien consciousness, or drugged, or a sex-crazed clone of some kind. She just looks like their Sam, except much closer than she should be in the middle of a work day on base.

"Um," he says, eloquently. 

Sam gives him a sparkling, thousand-watt smile and puts an open cell phone to his ear.

" _*That was from me,*_ " Jack says. " _*Special delivery for Doctor Daniel Jackson.*_ "

"And this is from me," Sam adds, and drags his mouth back to hers.

This time he knows what's going on, because Jack's voice clicks everything into place, so he strokes his hands up her back and kisses back so fiercely that she laughs with delight into his mouth. He pushes and she steps back, lets him crowd her up against the nearest bench with his mouth and hands and body - with absolutely everything he has in him, with twelve years of love that's been trapped behind so many closed doors for all that time.

" _*Jesus, Sam,*_ " Jack laughs in his ear. " _*The plan wasn't to torture me, let him breathe already.*_ "

They have to stop kissing, Sam laughs so hard at that, so Daniel settles for just holding her and tipping his head to hers.

"It's today," he says, a little dazed.

" _*Well done, Danny boy.*_ "

Sam grins. "Yep. Today."

He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. He must look and sound completely, utterly besotted and he doesn't care at all. "You're supposed to be on the _Hammond_."

She shrugs, still grinning. "Well, you heard the General. I had a special delivery to make."

" _*Unfortunately she didn't have the equipment to deliver the rest,*_ " Jack says, with enough innuendo to bring down a 302. " _*But it'll be unwrapped and ready when you get home, I do believe, if Colonel Carter would be so kind.*_ "

"Ready and waiting, General," Sam says, as much promise in her eyes as in Jack's voice, and Daniel vows he's going to get them back for ganging up on him like this. 

Later. 

  


* * *

  


**3. __**

On the day of the repeal, Sam wins a not insignificant amount of cash in the obviously non-existent SGC betting pool.

The odds on John and Rodney were so short as to almost not be worth the bet, but the odds on John being the one to out their relationship before Rodney got the chance were enough to get her a tidy little sum. She'd known for certain that Rodney would let John be the one to put his boot down firmly on not telling, unlike the majority who thought of Rodney's lack of tact first, and didn't understand as well as she does the feral glee he'd get, seeing his partner sticking it to the stupidest regulation ever to hit the statute books.

She bet against Daniel and Cam early on, for obvious reasons, and those were decent enough odds to add a good steak dinner for the team to her winnings, mainly from the younger officers who don't even remember Jack being on base, let alone on SG-1. 

Bill wouldn't even take money on just Jack and Daniel on the premise he'd bankrupt himself, but he's had enough permutations of scenarios in the book for months that it was easy enough to get one slipped in there about the three of them. Sam isn't dumb enough to give the game away by betting on herself, of course, but for an even split of the proceeds, Hailey made an excellent and more than willing proxy. 

"I'm not sure how I feel about this," Daniel says, as Hailey counts out her – their – winnings onto his lab desk.

Hailey grins unrepentantly mid-count. She's turned into an officer Sam is incredibly proud of in many, many ways. "You mean scalping your colleagues for fun and profit?"

"No, that our colleagues have such terrible powers of observation." He smiles playfully and grabs Sam by the waist, tugging her up against him.

She smiles back and reaches up to pet his hair. "Or we're really good liars."

"Or that."

"People just have no imagination," Hailey shrugs.

Sam's not sure she's quite right about that: she knows what half the base expected to find out, when Jack was promoted to Washington. She knows that not suddenly declaring she'd been in love with her CO the minute he wasn't her CO probably shortened the odds on he and Daniel considerably, in many people's minds. They were even right, in a way. 

She'd wanted to, of course she had. Desperately wanted to shout it from the top of the mountain that yes, she'd been in love for as long as everyone imagined and even longer than that. Wanted to see everyone's faces when they found out it hadn't just been Jack's presence on the team demanding their secrecy, but hers and Daniel's too.

She just couldn't - not when it still risked Jack's career even to be connected to Daniel that way. Not when it made her the one who had everything, and damned them both to look like only half of who they've always been. Not when she'd known how many people would look at one, or both of them, loving her, and hold that up as proof they couldn't possibly love each other the same way.

Well, many people, but not all. Sam didn't even have to tip their hand to get Hailey in on this: she's had them pegged practically since the beginning. Certainly since she got her first SG team assignment. "It always made perfect sense to me," she says, with a shrug. She tidies both piles of notes with a few taps and hands one to Sam. "A pleasure doing business with you, Colonel. Doctor." 

"Major." Sam pulls out her wallet and tucks the wad of cash neatly away. "Don't feel you need to be shy about announcing your win, by the way," she adds, and Hailey grins.

"No Ma'am."

"That girl doesn't have a shy gene in her," Daniel says, when Hailey's disappeared around the corner. Sam smiles mischievously, turning to face him and sliding her arms around his neck.

"Just making sure." She stretches up and kisses him, light and playful. "Dinner's on me tonight. What time is Jack due in?"

  


* * *

  


**4.**

On the day of the repeal, Daniel spends the entire morning doing paperwork. He's never enjoyed it so much in his life, and he's pretty sure he's never going to again.

He's moved house enough in his life – four times since he's been at the SGC, even – that he's got a list of everyone who needs to know that his address is changing, so he does that first. It's even easier when he knows the address – _1025 West Grand, Colorado Springs ¬_ – by heart, almost better than he knows his own… well, his old one.

After that it's the financial forms, including the request to start depositing his pay check into the first new account he's had since he descended, the first joint account he's ever had in his life. 

Then the big one, though it feels like it shouldn't be at all – they've been his only family, had their names on this form alongside Teal'c's, for almost a decade. This shouldn't be any different, but it is.

 _Next of kin_ : _Lieutenant General Jonathan J. O'Neill, 69-4-141. Relationship to employee: Partner._

_Next of kin: Colonel Samantha Carter, 36-6-349. Relationship to employee: Partner._

__He signs the form with a flourish and the date, and on a whim takes a badly-lit photo before he seals it up for delivery.

 _Eat lunch,_ he writes in their private AFNET chat, attaches the photo, and heads off to do the same before either of them can send a spy to determine whether he's nagging unfairly.

Jack replies first, with a string of every smiling emoji that probably exists, and an even worse photo of what looks like standard Pentagon fare accompanied by the largest Starbucks cup in all creation.

He's sitting down in the commissary when Sam's reply comes through – a photo of a half-eaten sandwich on her desk, and _I will love you forever if you send me that coffee._

He grins to himself, types back with one hand as he tucks into his lemon chicken. _You mean Starbucks don't have the franchise rights up there yet?_

 _I'll get that approved ASAP,_ Jack writes back. _Filed my forms this morning, too._

 __Jack has never in his life done paperwork as soon as it hit his desk: Daniel knows this for unequivocal fact. But he doesn't doubt for a second that today, it's true.

 _Me too,_ comes back from Sam, almost immediate. _You can call the movers whenever works, I'll make sure I'm planetside for the day._

 _The perks of being captain,_ he writes back, and gets a saluting emoji in reply.

 _Time to go save the planet from bureaucrats again,_ comes from Jack, as he's finishing his last few bites. _God save me from pencil pushers. Could someone get the Goa'uld back instead?_

 _I'll ask,_ he sends back. _I'm sure we can find a few still under a rock somewhere._ And then it comes to him, and he's suddenly smiling to himself like a complete lunatic, wide and manic in the middle of the commissary, as he types the thing he's never dared – not on the military net, not before today. 

_Have fun, don't let them drive you any more crazy._

_I love you._

His phone rings almost instantaneously, and he only just sees the number before he answers.

" _*Love you, too,*_ " Jack says without even a hello. From his desk phone, in the Pentagon. No code, no innuendo, no meaningful pauses. " _*I miss you both way too much. Let me know when you get the movers in and I'll take some leave.*_ "

"Okay." He feels like the same lovesick idiot he was a lifetime ago, learning to grind flour at Sha're's side. "Call me tonight? I'll be at Sam's –" He stops, almost lowers his voice. Almost, but doesn't, because he doesn't need to. "I mean, I'll be at home. Sometime after seven?"

" _*Sweet.*_ " There's another voice, possibly Walter, and then Jack says, " _*I gotta go. I'll call you – no, I'll be right there,*_ " obviously to that other voice. " _*Tonight,*_ " and that one word is full of so much hot, sensual promise that Daniel almost feels dizzy with it. 

"Tonight," he says, his own voice gone rough, and he'd swear he hears Jack grinning even as he hangs up.

  


* * *

  


**5. __**

On the day of the repeal, Jack has arranged specifically to be in Colorado Springs and for the _Hammond_ to be in orbit around Earth, and Sam takes the rest of the week off without a single protest. Getting Hank to have SG-1 at home too was easy enough: he didn't even need to make it obvious, when he said he's got some leave and coming to town, Hank even offered to make sure the schedule allows him time to 'catch up' with his old team.

He almost slipped and invited Hank to dinner then, only just reminded himself in time that it's not his place, yet, as far as the Air Force knows.

He meets Sam on the _Hammond_ and they beam straight into her second bedroom, left with the blinds down especially for that purpose. Sam kisses him the moment they're solid again, whispers, "we've got two hours before I pick Cassie up," and laughs when he pushes her down onto the guest bed in reply.

Somehow they're both dressed again, like normal civilians instead of the Head of Homeworld Security and commander of a spaceship, by the time Sam actually has to leave for the airport. Jack tries not to admit how he's stupidly nervous, which is of course ridiculous because it's _Sam_ , and she knows him too well for that.

 __"It'll be fine," she says, kissing him as she slips her jacket on.

"Yeah," he says, gives up on trying to pretend this doesn't mean the world to him. Cassandra is as close to his own kid as he's ever going to come out to, and it's going to hurt like hell if it goes wrong.

"Jack." Sam takes his face in her hands, strokes her thumb over his cheek. "You remember that Cass had a girlfriend last Christmas, right?"

He remembers, but even that doesn't quite quiet the voice in his head that's had a lifetime to feed him doubts and fears, the voice that says _it's still not the same_. What if Cass can't accept the three of them? What if she's angry that they hid it from her for so long? That he didn't tell her, help her, when she came out to him? That he and Daniel are living up to that stupid bisexual stereotype of having their cake and eating it too?

Sam kisses him again, deep and slow and loving, derailing his brain as thoroughly as she knows how – and she knows she's doing it, he can tell. "It's going to be fine," she says, firmly. "Cass loves you. She loves all of us. She'll be happy for us, you'll see."

He hugs her tight, buries his face in her neck for a long minute to catch his breath. Her hair is soft and warm, just like her voice in his ear.

"You gonna be okay?" 

He nods, drags himself away from her. "Go on, don't want you being late."

"Keep yourself busy," Sam orders, for once without any innuendo, and smiles at him as she pulls the door closed.

Thankfully, 'busy' isn't that hard to find. He starts the dinner prep, waters the few plants Sam's managing to keep alive on the sill, changes the bedsheets in case Cass wants the second bedroom, throws a load of laundry in. He's doing a sweep of the house for visitor-acceptable cleanliness, stopping himself every time he nearly hides the evidence of cohabiting – three toothbrushes in the bathroom, Daniel's shaver on charge, mugs printed with _Galaxy's Best Archaeologist_ and _Minnesota's Worst Fisherman_ in the dishwasher – when Sam texts to say they're on their way home. 

_We'll be an hour or so. There's a box under the desk in the office, if you've run out of distractions. Love you._

She really does know him too well.

The box in question is new: it wasn't here last week. Scrawled on the lid is today's date, and inside –

Photos, already framed. Himself, at his promotion ceremony. A shot Teal'c took of the three of them on the dock at the cabin, Sam in between his thighs with her feet dangled in the water, Daniel's arms around them both. A much younger Daniel in academic robes, obviously accepting a degree. And under a seventies-studio-pose of two people he recognises as Daniel's parents, a copy of the one photo he kept in his locker from that first Abydos mission until the day he left the SGC. 

Charlie.

He's sitting there on the floor of Sam's home office, holding that photo in both hands, when Cassie curls into his side and and simply wraps her arms around his middle the way she did as a kid. 

He puts the photo down on top of the box and wraps his arms around her in return, hugs her hello. He didn't hear them come in, and he just hopes this doesn't look like she should worry, finding him staring into a box of memories like this when really he's just processing the momentous idea that he can hang a photo of his son openly in this house. In _their_ house.

"Hi," she says.

"Hey," he says back, uncertain, not sure what tone exactly to use. Has Sam said anything? Is he relieved, happy, apologetic – 

"I'm _so_ happy for you guys," she says, pressing her lips to his cheek, and that's when it registers that she's grinning like an idiot. "Sam told me in the car," she adds, at his look. "Though she didn't really have to." 

"No?"

She rolls her eyes. "Come on, I know what day it is, I watch the news. Why else would you want me home?"

"We always want you home," he says, because she's their kid, of course they do. "So you're... we're, okay?"

Cassie laughs. "Are you _kidding_? This is like a Hallmark movie. I used to hope you guys would all get together when I was a kid, you know? Mom always told me why you couldn't, but I never got it. I was always so sad that one of you might be left out."

He hugs her so damn tight, he thinks he'll crack a rib, but he doesn't care. "No one's getting left out," he says, suddenly a little hoarse, and Cassie hugs him back just as hard.

"I'm glad. I wish mom could be here. She'd be so happy, I know it."

"Me too." It still feels wrong that Janet won't be sitting round the table with them tonight, even though she'd probably have known long before now anyway. 

"I wish he could be here, too," Cassie adds, much softer, and Jack's throat closes up when her fingers touch the photo of Charlie still sitting there, looking up at them both. 

He swallows, hard. "Yeah?"

"I bet he'd be proud of you," she says, with a wisdom too far beyond her years, puts the photo in his lap and goes back to hugging him. "I am."

Maybe it's just because he wants to, so badly, or maybe it's because she's the one person who might truly know, but even that little voice in his head actually believes her.

  


* * *

  


**6.**

On the day of the repeal, six changes of personal information and two requests for off-world leave arrive on Sam's desk.

She likes to think she's a good leader, a good captain who cares about her crew, but somehow it still surprises her to be faced with the evidence that today is different for _so_ many others, too. 

"I just didn't think about… I don't know." She props her chin on her crossed wrists. "That there might be people on my crew the same as us, that I had no idea about."

" _*That was kind of the point of the damn thing,*_ " Jack points out. He'd sound better if she put them up on the big screen, but it feels more intimate this way: lying on her bed with the laptop open beside her, Jack's Washington apartment on one side and Daniel in Colorado on the other. It's as close as she can get to having them in bed with her when they all have to be apart.

She smiles ruefully. "I know. It just hit me harder than I expected." The SGC was always so different, somehow managing to skirt the line of acceptance even within the shackles of DADT. She's _certain_ Hammond had at least an inkling of how far the bonds between his flagship team went, even back then. It's painful to think that she isn't the same shield for the people under her command.

" _*It was never your fault, Sam.*_ " Daniel's stretched out on his couch with his laptop actually in his lap; their view is of him naked from the waist up, hair slightly spiky from taking a shower, the edge of his waistband just visible. It's a view she definitely appreciates and knows Jack does, too, which is probably exactly the point. 

" _*A ship isn't the same as the SGC,*_ " Jack says, proving once again that she can't fool either of them and shouldn't bother trying. " _*Hell, the SGC isn't the same as the SGC was. We wouldn't get away with half what we did.*_ " She doesn't think any of them are happy about it, of course, but he's right. " _*You can't have that relationship with all of them, as much as you want to. Be glad they were as good as hiding it as we were.*_ "

" _*And that they're obviously feeling safe enough to come out now,*_ " Daniel adds. " _*That says something about your command, Sam. About the crew you've put together, and what they think of you.*_ " He gives her a hopeful smile. " _*And you never enforced those regs, did you?*_ "

"I never had to." She's relieved, of course she is, that she was never put in that position and never will be, now. But knowing that's only true because people had to live in secret, in fear of _her_ finding out – knowing she could have been ordered to…

" _*The night after the battle is always the shittiest,*_ " Jack says, gently. He puts down his mug and pulls the screen closer. " _*You know that. Cut yourself some slack.*_ "

She smiles, suddenly tired and seeing the sense in what he's saying, even if it's hard. "I'm sorry," she says, quietly. "I know, it never really covered me…"

" _*Sam,*_ " Daniel says sternly.

" _*Bullshit,*_ " Jack says. " _*Do we need to have this conversation again? So you're straight. Still couldn't tell anyone the truth.*_ "

"Because I'd never do that to you," she says, instantly, the exact same as the last time they talked about this, and all the times before.

" _*Because the fucking regs said you couldn't. Okay, yeah, they never wrote 'don't tell anyone you're in a bisexual three-way' in there, but you know that's only lack of imagination. Jesus, these idiots seriously thought being gay is a step from assaulting guys in the showers every day. I don't think they'd care that you're not actually wielding the cock in question.*_ "

She laughs, with even a little humor. "That's true."

" _*Damn right it is.*_ " Jack's voice softens again. " _*This whole fucking thing hurt all of us. It doesn't matter who felt worst or why, okay?*_ "

" _*What matters,*_ " Daniel says, " _*is that it's over and done with.*_ "

"Yeah." She smiles warmly at them both. "And I'm so glad I _can_ find out about them, now."

Daniel returns that smile, tilts his screen a little closer too. " _*So, did you tell anyone today?*_ " 

" _*And if you spin any line about not wanting to out us, I'm gonna beam up there right now and spank you,*_ " Jack says, before she can answer. Sam laughs and cants her hips up, enough that they can see the way she wriggles her ass at him. 

Daniel makes a slightly strangled noise, and his screen wobbles a little as if he's shifting position. " _*Well, that's the image I'm getting off to later, just so you know.*_ "

" _*Glad to be of service,*_ " Jack says brightly. " _*So did you?*_ "

Her mind is a little off track, following the thread of Jack's hand smacking her ass to Daniel watching them to Daniel making himself come, probably before he even closes the laptop. "Hmm?"

Jack grins like he knows exactly what she's thinking about. Of course he does. " _*Maybe we can do that at the weekend, if you want. Did you get to come out to anyone today?*_ "

"Marks asked about my weekend plans," she says, smiling at the memory. "They weren't quite so interesting at the time -" Daniel snorts a laugh – "but I did tell him my _partners_ and I were having this romantic getaway in Minnesota…" 

" _*Who knew you'd finally think fishing is romantic,*_ " Daniel teases. " _*Jack, how about you? Does the whole Pentagon know yet?*_ "

" _*Sure, I had Walter draft a memo.*_ " Jack flashes a grin. She's not entirely sure he's joking. " _*You?*_ "

" _*Nine different people asked me.*_ " Daniel's grin is even broader than Jack's. " _*I started keeping a tally after number three.*_ "

" _*Safe to say the whole SGC knows, then.*_ "

" _*Well, I certainly did my best.*_ " His eyes sparkle. " _*In fact I really think I worked hard enough to deserve a reward.*_ "

Jack raises an eyebrow, thoroughly suggestive even as he makes a show of asking. " _*What d'you think, Sam?*_ "

She thinks about walking into an SGC where everyone _knows_. That these two incredible men love each other, love her, that she loves them, that they fit like this – that they're not just teammates and family, that they're _everything_ to each other.

"I think you should definitely plan to spank me for him at the weekend," she says, bold and wicked. Daniel groans happily, and it's the exact sound she wants to hear; the sound she wants Jack to hear. 

Some things change, some things are perfect already.

  


* * *

  


**7.**

On the day of the repeal, Sam has everyone to dinner: the three of them, Teal'c and Mitchell and Vala, Hank and Walter and Cassie, home from her residency at Johns Hopkins especially for the occasion.

Sam and Cass cook, he lays the table and opens the wine and steals kisses from Sam while Cassie eggs them on with happy giggles. Daniel walks through the door at six thirty with Teal'c and straight into an armful of red-headed intern, quickly juggling his giant box of dessert with the skill of a master while hugging her tight.

He showers with Daniel before dinner, hands soaped up with Sam's shower gel around each other's cocks, mouths locked and the radio playing to hide the sounds. Daniel comes only a second before he does, smiles at him afterwards like it's the very first time, and Jack has to give himself a very stern talking to not just throw him down on the bed and fuck him utterly, utterly senseless, visitors and dinner be damned.

By some miracle, they're both dressed again when Hank, Mitchell, Vala and Walter arrive. He's not close to them the way he is T, but it's still good to see them all: with Sam at the head of the table on his right, Daniel to his left, it's as close to a family reunion as it can be, even with the trepidation and anticipation going round his stomach like a blender. 

There's no way this group could ever avoid work talk for long, but it stays light enough – a little news, a lot of reminiscence. By the time they've finished the main course, Sam's ankle is hooked around his under the table and every so often he'll feel Daniel's hand brush against his thigh. It's no more than it has been at public dinner tables for years, and yet when Daniel refills his wine ready for dessert and their fingers touch, Jack suddenly finds it hard to breathe.

He glances at Sam. She's already looking at him, a look he can hear as clear as words; it's the same one they share to this day before advancing into battle, but softened with years of being more than that, too. _I'm ready, if you are. Just give the signal._

 __He smiles at her. She smiles back, slow and full of affection, her gaze sliding to Daniel to include him too. Jack knows what he'll see before he turns his head, and he's not wrong in even one detail: Daniel's eyes locked onto him with that same look as Sam has, fingers patient and waiting on the table an inch from his own.

He knows either of them would take point on this, if he wanted them to. He doesn't have to be the one to say it. They're just waiting because they both want him to have this moment, because damn it, he's _owed_ this.

He catches a glance from Cassie, then, and her grin is what makes him put down his wine and take Daniel's waiting hand. _Giving the signal._

 __Daniel squeezes his fingers, slow smile on his lips. He only has to twitch his free hand and Sam takes it, grips his fingers tight. _Signal received and understood._

Daniel clears his throat, just loudly enough to quiet the other conversation around the table. Cam notices first, looks at Jack in confusion. "Are we saying grace, sir? It's a little late."

"Actually it's way overdue," Sam says, her smile brighter than sunlight. "Jack?"

Mitchell's eyebrows go up at even that, his name from Sam's lips. Teal'c is starting to smile, Hank looks confused, and Jack can't resist because really, he was never not going to be a smartass about this.

"What, no one's going to ask? I guess we should tell, then." His pulse is a single racing beat, but he feels ready for this. "Daniel and I are moving in with Sam. Here. To live together. Because we're lovers." He might break their fingers, he's gripping their hands so hard, but he's pretty sure they'll forgive him. "The three of us. Have been for years. Oh, and I'm bisexual, for the record. Absolutely, one-hundred percent going both ways."

"At the same time," Cassie giggles, and Sam shoots her a scandalised look but she's obviously trying not to laugh.

"Cassandra!"

"Well, it's true, isn't it?"

"She is right," Daniel grins. "Also, same. Very bisexual. You know, for the record."

Vala makes a high-pitched noise and launches herself at Sam, tackling her into a hug. Walter just gets a knowing look, the little shit, and Jack realises he's probably just been not asking for god knows how long. Cassie claps excitedly, and Teal'c puts a broad hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"I am pleased not to keep this secret any more," he says warmly.

Cam's jaw practically drops. "T, you _knew?_ "

"Indeed," Teal'c says, and Daniel grins.

"Come on, you think we could slip anything past Teal'c?" 

Mitchell looks more dazed by that than the actual admission. Hank just looks completely poleaxed, staring at him. 

Jack steels himself, feels Sam and Daniel bracing him from either side. "Hank?"

There's a long moment, Hank shaking his head as if he's clearing it, and then a slow grin makes its way onto his face. "Can't say I was expecting it from you of all people, but it's about time you could surprise me. Congratulations, Jack."

He grins back, like a fool, and doesn't care at all. 

  


* * *

  


**8.**

****On the day of the repeal, Jack books a table at the most expensive, most exclusive DC restaurant where they can also be fairly certain of bumping into at least one fellow General on any given evening.

Daniel beams up to the _Hammond_ from his apartment while she's still getting ready; the door to her quarters buzzes just as she's about to zip up her dress.

"Who is it?"

" _*Boyfriend number one,*_ " he says, loud and sing-song, and a smile bursts across her face as she presses to let him in.

"I thought we agreed 'boyfriends' was weird." She turns her back and sweeps her hair forward over one shoulder. "Since you're here, would you mind?"

"Never." His fingertips graze her skin, trailing down her spine to reach the zipper; he tugs it up slowly, sensual, and then his lips are soft and searing hot at the nape of her neck. "Mmm. I prefer the unwrapping, but I guess that can wait until later."

She laughs and slips into her heels, taking his hand. "Come on, we don't want to keep boyfriend number two waiting."

They walk through the ship to the transporter just like that: hand in hand, Daniel in the tailored charcoal grey suit that they both know is Jack's favorite, Sam in a full-length strappy sapphire blue dress that shows just enough cleavage to spend the whole night teasing. Each time a member of her crew goes by they get smiles, and even a few congratulations, and for the first time Daniel doesn't even try to take his hand away. By the time they appear in the Pentagon foyer designated specifically for such unorthodox arrivals, Sam feels like she's on cloud nine and she doesn't think Daniel could stop smiling if his life depended on it.

"Hey, kids. Lookin' good."

Daniel breaks into an all-out, shit-eating grin. "Not so bad yourself, Jack." And _damn_ , is he right. She could happily peel that navy blue suit – formal, not military, but definitely and deliberately hinting – right off, right here. The only thing stopping her is that today, tonight, she wants it to be Daniel's turn.

She slips her hand out of his and into Jack's; Daniel gives her a look, immediately getting it, and takes up position on Jack's other side to very firmly entwine their fingers together.

"I believe you promised us wining and dining?"

Jack grins back at him and leads them out into the Pentagon, each hand in one of theirs. People say hello, nod and smile and give them a myriad of different looks as they walk, but Jack just grins every time. He lets go for the security check and that's all, even grabs Daniel's hand back while they wait for her to slip her shoes back on, and then they're out into the DC evening.

Of course it's Walter who's waiting outside, like some fairy tale butler finally seeing his charges off to the ball. He gestures to the bottom of the steps, where a chauffeured limo is waiting with the back door already open. 

"Your car is waiting, sir." He smiles at her. "Colonel." At Daniel, exactly the same. "Doctor."

"Thank you, Walter." Jack grins at him, too. "Don't wait up."

There's champagne in the limo; Daniel pours expertly even as the car weaves through evening DC traffic. Their glasses clink together once, and then Jack plucks Daniel's from his fingers before he can even take a sip.

"Hold my beer," he says, hands it to her with a waggle of his eyebrows that makes her laugh. He takes a swallow from his own glass and reels Daniel in with a hand behind his neck, kissing the champagne into Daniel's mouth. When Daniel trades off to do the same for her, the bubbles sparkle on her tongue and she imagines it tastes of them both, a heady and inseparable mix.

Their table is ready and waiting when they arrive, Jack's hand back in hers and his other arm tight around Daniel's back. A thrill runs through her, that same feeling of stepping through the gate into the unknown: this table isn't tucked into a private corner hidden from public view, but a candlelit spectacle beside the wrought iron railing of the first floor. 

There are at least three faces she recognises at other tables, at least two of them watching as Jack pulls out a chair for Daniel, as he kisses him just the same way as that first kiss in the car before even letting him sit down. Watching as he does the same for her, and still watching as she closes the circle by leaning over and capturing Daniel's mouth sweetly with her own. This time she _knows_ she can taste it – Daniel, and Jack in Daniel's mouth, and freedom for all three of them.

  


* * *

  


**9.**

****On the day of the repeal, SG-1 are off-world on a joint mission with the _Hammond_ to deliver supplies to the Beta site and review the new science lab installations. It's a nice, straightforward mission and absolutely nothing goes wrong.

Two days later, Daniel steps back through the gate with Sam on one side, Teal'c on the other, Mitchell and Vala on their heels – and stops dead in the middle of the ramp because Jack's standing there, in full service dress, smiling more serenely than he ever has and holding a suspiciously small box in his hand. 

It all happens in snapshots. He hears Sam's sharp intake of breath, feels her hand take his, grips hers just as tight. 

Jack – a little slowly, granted – drops to one knee. 

Vala squeals with delight, so loudly it echoes through the gate room. Jack's looking right at up at them and winces slightly at the sound, still smiling, and that's so _Jack_ that he realises this really isn't a dream.

Jack opens the box, holding it out, and Daniel has brought treasures untold down this ramp but he's never seen anything to compare to the three platinum bands staring up at him from a cushion of military blue velvet.

"I love you," Jack says, simply, even though he doesn't need to because it's shining out of his eyes, the way he's looking at Daniel, and then at Sam just the same, "I love you," and then both of them, and all Daniel can feel is Sam's hand in his. "Marry me?" 

The man of few words, Daniel thinks, and every one of them perfect. 

"Yes," Sam says, instantly, voice full of amazement and love and thick with sudden tears, "yes, oh my god, _yes_ -" 

"Yes," he says, right along with her, because what the hell else was he ever going to say? " _Yes_ , Jack, are you mad, get up-" and then he can't speak because Jack's kissing him, stealing every breath he has and then Sam's and then his and then hers, over and over as if somehow he can manage to kiss them both at the same time right here in the middle of the gate room.

He's fully aware that they have an audience, that probably a hundred people are staring and all of them are probably military. He doesn't know if they knew already, if they thought they knew, if they had no idea, if they're happy or disgusted or just confused. He doesn't care.

He doesn't _have_ to care. _They_ don't have to care, not any more. 

He feels so full of emotion it's like ascending all over again. He's actually holding them right here, both of them, Jack and Sam, the two people he loves so much he hurts with it, and they're holding him and each other and it's not just perfect, it's not just real, it's _allowed._ Finally, it's all allowed.

Sam kisses him, kisses Jack, presses in close. "What possessed you to kneel on the gate ramp," she murmurs, still crying and smiling like she's never going to stop. Daniel laughs, so in love he can't keep it in.

"Yes, you idiot, you could have waited-"

"No," Jack says, grinning with all the joy that's in his eyes. "No, I couldn't."

  


* * *

  



End file.
